Shaquille O’Neal is a man of many talents. While I was chatting with the bartender over dinner this evening, I found out that he had a reputation as being a competent DJ, if not one of the greats of the Dubstep world, from someone who was himself a passionate fan of the genre, and that he was apparently working on a Dubstep album to release, which would be his first release in the genre–although it should be noted that Shaq has previously released four rap albums in the 1990s, and completed an unreleased album from 2001. Hearing that he was working on an album and that he had released several singles, I told him that I would check out his material and see what I thought about it.

To my surprise, Shaquille O’Neal, who goes under the monicker DJ Diesel as a dance DJ, is a somewhat prolific artist in releasing singles and in appearing on the singles of other artists. His most recent single is “Tornado,” a song in which he features on a track by Bandlez and Rated R. It’s a pretty competent Dubsteb work, not necessarily groundbreaking but enjoyable enough. Last year he released a single called “Shut Up” with 4B and featuring Trick Daddy. It too is an enjoyable enough song. He was on a track with another artist–one who appears to work in India and the Middle East named Soltan–called “”Dawn of the Dead” as well. This track references themes of power in and through death as well as heathen Egyptian religious beliefs about Osiris, and includes an original recording as well as a radio edit. He was also on a single last year with Freaky called “Backbreaker,” whose single art referenced his basketball career, with menacing lyrics that refer to his skill in breaking backs like he broke backboards during his early days in the NBA. In 2021 he performed with NITTI and IVORY on one of the songs in a double-A sided single in “Moshpit,” which seems a common enough theme for O’Neal’s work as a DJ, showing some menacing lyrics about the thought of Shaq in the moshpit without any rules seeking to deal with an unfortunate rival.

Given the material that has been released under the DJ Diesel name, one can imagine that an album worth of such material would contain some menacing and violent content where Shaq threatens violence against his enemies, laughs at those he is threatening, with some solid beats, featuring his own DJ work as well as likely plenty of guest production from others, and perhaps guest appearances from others as well. Shaq’s willingness to work with others on singles and appear on productions from a variety of labels as well as artists reflects his own involvement in a vibrant scene, albeit a scene I must admit I am not very familiar with personally. There is plenty of melodic edm music being released, but DJ Diesel’s work tends to focus–at least in the singles I have heard so far–on the more violent and aggressive side of the genre, which befits a man who is more than 7 feet tall with a fondness for violent retribution and numerous feuds.

Let us understand, though, that music is only a small part of Shaquille O’Neal’s numerous talents, and even that has often been seen as a sidelight to his work as a basketball player first and then a basketball commentator. He has taken his education seriously, finishing his bachelor’s degree after leaving early to join the NBA, getting an MBA during his career, as well as taking coursework in broadcasting as well as film direction on top of that. He has served in both Florida and Georgia in law enforcement, acted in both television and the movies, and also served as a corporate pitchman. Admittedly, his work in business as a promoter has not always went well–he is currently facing litigation for his efforts on behalf of the doomed criminal enterprise FTX, though at least his franchise businesses in other lines of business over safer and less troublesome endeavors. If you ever thought you were spread too thin in your interests, though, seeing how Shaquille O’Neal manages it would be enough to convince most people that they can just keep on following all of their interests wherever they may lead. Whether that is a good thing or not is not always easy to determine.